Beeks line: Francois Sohier 1595-1663

Don't believe everything I write here, because I can find very little documentation for this ancestor.  I am reasonably certain that he is an ancestor in the Beeks line, but I'm not sure he actually immigrated to the New World.  I sure would love to find a record so that I could verify unsourced trees that are "out there" on the 'net.  But because he is an ancestor, and because I think his story is fascinating, regardless of whether or not he actually came here, I wanted to share the bits and pieces of his life, including speculation.  (Much of the information I am using is from a blog post at https://a400yearstory.wordpress.com.  The information appears to be well researched, with many secondary sources, which is why I'm going to base this post on that article.  

I always take it with a grain of salt, when I find records that say so and so descended from royalty, but there seems to be a possibility that this Francois was one of the many millions of descendants of Charlemagne, and that his ancestors participated in the Crusades and were at least minor nobles.  The record of Sohiers dates back to the birth of Jean Sohier in 1435 on the island of Jersey, and usually we can't get that far back unless there was some sort of reason.  Peasants weren't necessarily tracked as well.  

However that may be, Francois was born about 1595 in Nieppe, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.  His family were Protestants and left France during one or another of the many wars for religious (and other) dominance of northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, but Francois was born in France so either the border moved or they returned home.  The story of the Huguenots, as the Protestants were known, is tragic and inspiring, and we can use this label to describe Francois.  

He married Margrieta, possibly in Holland, but they apparently lived in either Nieppe or Hainaut for most of their married life.  It's not clear who Margrieta's parents were.  Also not clear is how many children the couple had, nor when they sailed for New Netherlands.  There is so much of the story we are missing, but we know something of Dutch life during the early years, and it appears that Francois's story is intertwined with that story.  He would have known, or at least seen, Peter Stuyvesant and other of the early leaders of the colony.  He is believed to have died in 1663 in Flatbush, Kings County, New York, so he would have missed most of the tension relating to the English takeover, but he may well have lived through some of the troubles with the native Americans.  

I hope to learn more about Francois when I am able to go to the library in Ft Wayne again, but that will be a while.  Meanwhile, I like to remember that part of the Beeks heritage is Dutch and French, and that these ancestors contributed much to the building of what became America.  

The line of descent is:

Francois Sohier-Margreita

Marie Sohier-David Demarest

Jean Demarest-Jacomina DeRuine

Peter Demarest-Maretje Meet

Lea Demarest-Samuel David Demarest

Sarah Demarest-Benjamin Slot

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants